The present invention relates to a sports shoe, particularly for motocross.
As an overview of the various problems related to sports footwear, it is noted that currently it is known to manufacture sports shoes, such as for example skating shoes, which are constituted by a rigid shell, which is adapted to contain a soft innerboot for the user""s foot and to which a likewise rigid quarter is articulated by means of studs, rivets or other fastening systems arranged at the malleolar region.
Such known types of sports shoe therefore have two rigid components that are mutually articulated in order to allow the flexing of the leg with respect to the foot, the rigidity of the shell and of the quarter allowing the transmission of forces.
However, these known types of sports shoe, while having the above-mentioned advantages, also have drawbacks.
For example, in skiing the knee is very active in transmitting forces, while the ankle remains very static within the relatively rigid structure constituted by the shell and the quarter, which are in any case articulated in a point that is adjacent to the malleolar region.
In dynamic terms, this is correct; however, in terms of fit it is not possible to achieve for all users an optimum placement of the seats for the malleoli due to the preset articulation point constituted by the studs.
In skating, the ankle has a much more active role in force generation: the consequent static condition of the ankle is a disadvantage, but the ankle must be protected against the torques that might be generated during practice of the sport on the part of less expert skaters.
The current structure of the shoe for the skate is very similar to the structure of a ski boot and protects the ankle excellently against torques, but it prevents the application of maximum efficiency in the movements that allow advanced sports practice.
For this purpose, it is known that expert speed skaters and roller- and ice-hockey players wear skating shoes that are provided with a soft leather shoe that leaves the ankles free to work by controlled yielding.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,778,566 is also known as a partial solution to the above-mentioned drawbacks and relates to a sports shoe that can be used to perform several sports, such as roller skating and in-line skating, ice skating, hockey, ski-mountaineering, cross-country skiing, snowboarding, basketball or gymnastics.
This shoe comprises a soft innerboot that has a cuff that partially wraps around the leg of the user and with which a semirigid collar is advantageously associated.
Such collar is provided laterally with guiding seats for tabs that protrude from a semirigid body, which is monolithically coupled to the innerboot proximate to the heel and is engaged with the collar at the rear.
Differently from the preceding known types of shoe, in the resulting shoe the lack of rivets or studs at the malleolar region and most of all the free connection in that point between the tabs and the collar allows the foot of the user to perform both a controlled longitudinal movement with respect to the shoe and a lateral movement of controlled extent with respect to the shoe.
Although this solution eliminates several drawbacks that recur in known types of shoe, it has the main drawback of allowing the foot of the user to perform an excessively limited flexing motion, particularly in situations that require considerable combined rotary and translational motions on the part of the foot-ankle system in order to achieve its most appropriate relative arrangements, such as for example in the case of shoes for motorcycling, motocross and racing.
Another drawback that can be observed in this type of known solution is that the resulting shoe has a substantially non-optimum ratio between longitudinal and lateral rigidity and yielding.
The aim of the present invention is to solve the above-noted problems, eliminating the drawbacks of the cited prior art, by providing a sports shoe that allows to utilize a plurality of degrees of freedom to move the foot while keeping the foot, together with the ankle, effectively supported and protected, particularly for shoes for motorcycling.
Within this aim, an object of the invention is to provide a shoe that is particularly comfortable and adaptable to the various shapes of the foot, particularly as regards the portion of the shoe that is designed to make direct contact with the malleoli.
Another object is to provide a sports shoe that has an optimum ratio between longitudinal and lateral rigidity and yielding, in order to achieve optimum performance even at a non-advanced user level.
A further object is to provide, together with the characteristics noted above, a shoe whose rigidity allows optimum protection of the foot of the user against any torques generated during sports practice.
A still further object is to provide a shoe that is reliable and safe in use, can be obtained with low manufacturing costs and can be manufactured with conventional and known machines and equipment.
This aim and these and other objects that will become better apparent hereinafter are achieved by a sports shoe, particularly for motocross, which comprises a soft upper that is provided with a cuff and with a rear counter which are semirigid and are separately connected to said upper, characterized in that it comprises an additional semirigid element that is connected to said upper in an intermediate region between said quarter and said counter, said additional semirigid element being provided, at the rear and/or laterally, with at least one first tab and at least one second tab for sliding engagement in guiding means formed in said quarter and said counter.